For me shen is actually a counter to kled, you outdamage him early. Only important step is to hold w till he is demounted since it prevents him from gaining rage. Then you can ez all in him with ignitw
Hiya random stranger, just wanted to say your tip regarding the kled matchup led me to dumpster a kled in lane, and i wouldn't have thought to keep w in reserve to block his dismount attacks otherwise.
So thanks
Would take Darius over Aatrox any time of the year. Aatrox is still unplayable to me until this day, last hitting under tower getting poked and waiting for a good R. Count to 4 when he holds his Q, past 4 it goes into cooldown. Never E-Q even at low hp, he will bait you into his ult, even with our W + bramble the lifesteal is too much.
Used to get crushed by Illaoi, just poke grasp 1 chop behind behind minions, and if she somehow manages to land e, just dash away and take the L. Always try to bait her ult. E-Q with full health and if she gets fooled walk or flash away.
Used to lose against kled but after analyzing my games it seems I always get baited into his 2nd mount. You think you can back off but he will chase while building rage. Hold w/e for his dismounted state. Also learned not to disregard his i-frames during dismount. The i-frames making you miss your dash or pull through is fatal against this all in trade. Once 2nd mount arrives it's over.
Used to lose against GP but one day I just had enough. Imma get that barrel and play his game. Learn the barrel timing, and if he is going for double or triple max-range barrel. You can also taunt in, and take out the barrel first. Empowered q gives you extra range to sort of dispose the barrel at max range. High elo GP's will contest their barrels with a combination of point blank q and attack just to trigger it all costs. Low elo GP's will only contest with either pistol or attack, but never both. High elo GP's will also contest Q and autos on you (to get the same barrel damage value, specially with sheen) to further complex the trade. The one who gives up (stops cs/stays behind the creeps body language) gives confidence and will dominate the next 10 minutes of the game.
Block his q + first strike with w or ki barrier. Blocking his q with ki barrier actually triggers second wind + dorans, not sure if you trigger a hp profit regen but if you don't take damage for 5-10 seconds you stay at that hp level.
Nah I fully Support this, Lillia is actually unplayable.
Like Fiora is my perma Ban Just because I dislike the Champ and it's a good Ban for both my Mains atm.
But you literally can't kill the deer, it almost feels Like Darius in steroids.
Darius, except permaghosted and her Q does true damage. Also she has warmogs active constantly. Oh, and her passive? Its liandris. Good luck itemising.
No I get that it's a matchup I'd almost call Shen-favored.
I Just hate the Champ a Lot and she's insane against Gwen which I started playing recently as an alternative in Toplane.
I have PTSD and a mental block against Gangplank.
May the 'YAR HAR 20% CRIT CHANCE 400DMG 1ST ITEM IN 5MIN GOLDSHITTING' -Pirate die properly next time.
:)
Anything else is boring or playable for me.
I fucking hate kled and illaoi, doesn’t matter who I’m playing. Oh what? You have a tower? Too bad I can just dodge agro by taking dmg. Oh what? You almost killed me? Too bad I auto’d you 3 times and got 60% of my hp back
And don’t even get me started with illaoi E
The completely insane interaction of doing a perfect taunt, him taking 3 turret shots, dismount, takes 2 more, mounts again with 1hp, kills you, takes more turret hits, dismount, lose aggro and walk away.
I ban illaoi almost every game I play, even if I’m not too sometimes. That champ counters me down to my very soul. And if I have one friend who always says “she’s not that good just dodge he e” like yeah thanks man I had no idea! Too bad her is has a stupidly wide hit box, along with the fact that I could dodge E 153638 times but if she hits it once the lane is over. Which leads me to basically surrender the lane anyway, with the added cherry on top that if my jungles even does try to gank SHE’LL JUST HEAL MORE and get an extra kill helping her snowball even further. Oh and I only learned last year that her ult tentacles don’t show the same as her regular ones meaning they’re almost impossible to see. Along with the fact that her healing stacks based off of multiple targets and her e and a short targeted dash she can spam on low CD I have hated her since release. She was the first champ I DECIDED not buy since I hated her before she even hit the rift. Also why is she Sea themed, if she was like an undead warrior or something and had like spectral hands coming out of the ground instead of tentacles I might hate her 5% less. Sorry for the rant but I could go on all day about why I hate illaoi. I appreciate you <3
Little tip here for flora. Her vital will always switch to the opposite side. Hug a wall with whatever side her vital is, and then get ready to switch.
If you manage to taunt her as she dodges for a vital, you can trade well with pull thru and w, get grasp proc and retreat.
Ignite is key to stop her healing
Hello fellow Fiora perma Ban enjoyer ^ ^
Fully get the Sentiment, I get that the matchups decently playable for Shen if you play smart.
But Fiora is sooo irritating and even If I have to Play the occasional Darius matchup now my life is definitely better without her.
I used to find illaoi unplayable but I have been going bamis > tiamat and contesting waveclear as much as possible and I've had a couple of games going even or winning. I find Illaoi wins once your under tower with no minions and she is free to hit e's.
My current van is Darius
hi 1.4 mill aatrox otp here,
shen has kill pressure over aartox lvl 1-3, aatrox spikes at lvl 4 so be careful, make sure to bring ignite, for building vs aatrox just make sure you component buy bambis and bramble, your first item can be anything really, anathemas and frost fire preform the best into him, heart steal is best case senerio for aatrox out of shens most common first items
for trading if you ever see aatrox use q on wave all in him his q cool down is 14 seconds early game starting at the last q he casts, you lose every extended trade if aatrox doesnt int his combos, so under the assumption your fighting a human you primarily want to trade with enhanced q + grasp + shield bash
if you are feeling spicy you can go phase rush as primary rune, e in auto twice and RUNN and repeat, bambis also helps with procing phase rush as well
You are a hero. Thanks for all the info. Aatrox is my perma ban, but maybe I will try again.
As with all champions, a skilled aatrox will never Q waves unnecessarily, he knows that shen has 0 waveclear and he will patiently try to deny cs while building up the wave. Once the wave crash he will just spam e q and destroy you wave after wave after wave. There have been matches where I have managed to kill him once before 6 and then maybe a couple of times with good taunts under turret plus ignite but if you play against a skilled one, he will just wait and deny you everything. If you ult away once your turret is dead along with your last hopes of getting some cs. It's just champion design imo, shen cannot deal with champions who can push and harass you safely. He doesn't have good sustain in comparison, so with every wave you lose more.
As for itemization, you cannot build HS as shen and also buy bamis and bramble. You will never get the money for it. It's either bramble/bamis into radiant or HS if you are very much ahead. I would never build HD against aatrox btw because it can never guarantee that you can win a 1v1 against him. You probably lose an all in even when 3 kills ahead.
Sadly, in this matchup its up to the jungler to help you while Aatrox harass you under turret, and help you unfreezy waves when needed. If he never helps, you'll see your name spam pinged after 13-14 minutes, when Aatrox 1v3s with 70cs ahead.
Mordekaiser personally is unplayable, I main Aatrox so I know exactly how to beat him(be super agressive and either dodge his entire q1 or go into him early since you can do massive damage if he doesn't disengage, then first back bramble and rince and repeat, try to bait out his ult and after that you are free). Illaoi is very annoying matchup, not hard but requires a lot of focus which tends to make my head hurt.
Personally Morde and Darius aren't unplayable, just really hard , probably cos I play those two champs. But yeah one mistake and you get deleted, you have to play perfectly.
My absolute least favourite Shen matchups are Yorick (I play him though so at least I can pick him first), Darius (1 ability hit is lane lost), Morde (self-explanatory), Olaf (axes hard to dodge, all in is strong), and Jax (yes this is an ENORMOUS skill issue but I just can’t win into him).
I myself don't have unplayable matchups. But the ones i have biggest problems with are
Mordekaiser/teemo/illaoi/fiora/sett
(Sett is here due to his high sustain on lane plus how much DMG he can output with BOTRK even after blocking his aa's )
But my easiest ones are Darius/Olaf/jax/Nasus
This is the right answer. Everything about her kit is made to counter Shen. I don’t ban her bc I never see her top but if I see it it’s an instant dodge.
I ban illaoi but got rekt by olaf and warwick. If the wavestate somehow is bad, they can freeze forever zone you from xp and you cant rly break the freeze without your jungler
True, but if they freeze and your jungler cannot understand wave management, you perma roam until you force them to push.
As for WW its super simple. First you BEG your jungler to NEVER gank you. We all know how that goes against a barrier WW. Then, just ignore him and hit your minions. Stay under turret and its 100% that he will either mess up and die from a stupid dive, or hunt for someone away from top in which case you can either push and take plates, or freeze and deny him xp. (Depending on the situation). It's hard for WW to freeze because he needs to AA. But yeah, I also have the freezing problem against other offensive champs.
He outscales you that's true but honestly against most GPs you can destroy them early on. E through him and insta hit his barrel. He has to Q your taunt so he can't contest. Then hit him with the 2 remaining empowered Qs while also using W. Do this over and over and also take ignite. Its a medium difficulty lane until he gets his second item and by then you can have a huge lead. I even rush HS against him.
I don’t think any match is unplayable you will always be useful when your ult is up and just play around your team. Even if you are forced under tower. I have the most trouble with jayce.
I've had trouble with dumb yordles Kled, Heimerdinger, and Teemo. I have to play under tower and cry because I'm bad and if I ult botlane I lose tower.
I'm still too low level to run into true terrors like GP, fiora or Gwen with hands.
IMO AATROX AND DARIUS are FAIRLY EASY MATCHUP just camp the tower and let your jg gank you do not ever in any circumstance try to contest a 1v1 against them though
Gangplank is unplayable for me and also my permaban
Irelia is a pretty nice matchup for shen to my experience. Unless you are playing in challenger against crazy irelias, you just position the blade near minions and wait for her to q in. They always do. Then you enhanced q and use your W. Once q shield and w are out, taunt back through her, ir finish her. Honestly I feel uktra comfortable against her.
It just feels like she does 2x as much damage as any other bruiser while taking 1/2 the damage. And by the time you get a bramble vest it doesn’t even matter because her lifesteal just cancels it out and it’s on an even playing field when you should have a slight advantage lol. It just always feels like they get away with stupid shit that they wouldn’t on any other champ.
How do you guys deal with Olaf? I just had a game where I was 7/1/7 on shen but lower cs since I’d been roaming a ton and at no point could I ever 1v1 Olaf. I had bramble, ignite, Heartsteel & titanic and he had stride breaker rav hydra. I just got so frustrated since it felt like I was just playing a weaker champ since even behind so many kills his presence is more powerful and he can 1v1 everyone.
I know ppl don’t like Heartsteel in Shen but it was objectively the best mythic I could go since I was more ahead than all other lanes.
First of all, without a turret nearby you can never win an all in 1v1 against him. But during laning phase, you always win short trades cause of your W. Olaf relies on his attack speed. When he goes in , you instantly q (drag through him) for the shield. Once shield is out, use W. Once W ends, taunt back towards your turret. Never use E aggressively unless its a guaranteed kill with your jungler before Olaf's 6, or you know he doesn't have ult up. The moment you lose your turret just fall back to the second one. If you fight him in other terrain, you simply cannot win. But you will survive laningh phase and then peel for your team/help them. As witb all these tough matchups, the point is to not feed him.
As far as itemization goes, never go HS against these counter matchups. Even with HS and hydra you lose hard, no point in going for these builds here. Just go for the standard bamis/bramble/radiant and help your team.
HS is only used effectively against easier matchups with no kill potential on you.
A tip that works wonders for me is to always dtay near your blade. His combos are pretty quick but if you are always within reach of your W, the moment he e's in, you press W and you block his W aa. You can then q to get shield(try to drag through) and once he is out you can follow up with your e. At this point he cant do anything. Also use ignite against him.
and renekton players are pretty aggressive + know their health gain from ult/level up well. so assume he will try to dive you, and bait him while you have passive, w or flash up
His spin is like darius, it heals him.
His combo has built in anti shield (which will surprise you when you think you have ki barrier)
His dash can be cast twice if it hits anything (just assume he will dash twice)
When he has a red bar, he will use it to heal or to combo you (both deals massive dmg)
When you are low , assume and imagine that he will flash in stun combo. Usually when you are around 200-350 hp, pre 6.
His ult deals aura damage like morde, so just don't fight it. He gains rage for his q that enables him to heal and stun.
Rushing plated , Bramble and/or Warden's after bami and refillable would be a good survival option. Hide behind minions and poke grasp chops (never e-q without jungler or until you are confident)
I would say at least from a support stand point that maokai is unplayable. His punch takes you out of your taunt. Milio too, but most ones I have plYed against don’t save their Q for my taunt. So, that would be the window like playing against most CC. Maokai is just special in a way. Lulu is another where you don’t do much in lane itself and try to play elsewhere. What’s everyone else’s opinion?
In toplane: Olaf and Illaoi. I actually tend to be okay vs Aatrox and it’s always puzzled me why he’s considered such a hard counter to shen.
In midlane (and I guess top): Pantheon. Nothing I do seems to work against him, no matter how much of his combo I dodge or block he always seems to outrade me.
I feel Aatrox is one of those matchups where you have to use way more brainpower to win than others. You have to constantly be moving and dodging the Q. It’s not an unplayable matchup but it’s hard as shit to micromanage everything. A lot of people here are saying Nasus but I’d consider that lane completely free assuming you have any wave management skills. Those two matchups have the same kinda thing where you have to be intentional about absolutely everything. No autopilot.
Nasus. Winnable very early if you aggress + ignite. Lost after he gets sheen. Can't do quick in-and-out trades because he'll W and slowly run you down while healing off the attacks. Quickly becomes hopeless after level 6 where he gets free AOE, lower cooldown on Q, free armor and MR and free HP while you get... the ability to leave lane to stop the adc inting while he takes your plates, heals to full and gets 15 stacks.
I’d consider Nasus a pretty free lane bc you outclass him heavily levels 1-5. He’s super easy to freeze against and deny xp. If you see him Q a minion early levels it’s a free taunt into 3 empowered Q autos —> insta win the trade. Be mindful though that the minions will aggro you and that can break the freeze.
Gangplank. All the way.
Ghost barrels. Ghost barrels everywhere.
What u gonna do? Taunt on his face? Nope, not in a million years.
My only hope when against gangplank is my team doing its job properly and then come and help them
For me shen is actually a counter to kled, you outdamage him early. Only important step is to hold w till he is demounted since it prevents him from gaining rage. Then you can ez all in him with ignitw
Thank you for the galaxy brain plan, I never thought about that!!
Hiya random stranger, just wanted to say your tip regarding the kled matchup led me to dumpster a kled in lane, and i wouldn't have thought to keep w in reserve to block his dismount attacks otherwise. So thanks
Would take Darius over Aatrox any time of the year. Aatrox is still unplayable to me until this day, last hitting under tower getting poked and waiting for a good R. Count to 4 when he holds his Q, past 4 it goes into cooldown. Never E-Q even at low hp, he will bait you into his ult, even with our W + bramble the lifesteal is too much. Used to get crushed by Illaoi, just poke grasp 1 chop behind behind minions, and if she somehow manages to land e, just dash away and take the L. Always try to bait her ult. E-Q with full health and if she gets fooled walk or flash away. Used to lose against kled but after analyzing my games it seems I always get baited into his 2nd mount. You think you can back off but he will chase while building rage. Hold w/e for his dismounted state. Also learned not to disregard his i-frames during dismount. The i-frames making you miss your dash or pull through is fatal against this all in trade. Once 2nd mount arrives it's over. Used to lose against GP but one day I just had enough. Imma get that barrel and play his game. Learn the barrel timing, and if he is going for double or triple max-range barrel. You can also taunt in, and take out the barrel first. Empowered q gives you extra range to sort of dispose the barrel at max range. High elo GP's will contest their barrels with a combination of point blank q and attack just to trigger it all costs. Low elo GP's will only contest with either pistol or attack, but never both. High elo GP's will also contest Q and autos on you (to get the same barrel damage value, specially with sheen) to further complex the trade. The one who gives up (stops cs/stays behind the creeps body language) gives confidence and will dominate the next 10 minutes of the game. Block his q + first strike with w or ki barrier. Blocking his q with ki barrier actually triggers second wind + dorans, not sure if you trigger a hp profit regen but if you don't take damage for 5-10 seconds you stay at that hp level.
I'm probably just terrible, but It's Lillia for me.
Nah I fully Support this, Lillia is actually unplayable. Like Fiora is my perma Ban Just because I dislike the Champ and it's a good Ban for both my Mains atm. But you literally can't kill the deer, it almost feels Like Darius in steroids.
Darius, except permaghosted and her Q does true damage. Also she has warmogs active constantly. Oh, and her passive? Its liandris. Good luck itemising.
Maybe it's me, but fiora is a breeze.
No I get that it's a matchup I'd almost call Shen-favored. I Just hate the Champ a Lot and she's insane against Gwen which I started playing recently as an alternative in Toplane.
Lillia is my other main and from my experience lillia has no counters top if you play right. It’s my pocket pick against those vayne players.
You are not. Fuck Lilia. In the ass. Sideways.
MORDEKAISER 🥲
i eat mordekaiser for breakfast
Morde is so easy just respect his w shield. Similar to sett just do short trades
literally just dodge and bait his e’s and q’s its so easy. And then only short trade with him as his passive is a real pain.
I have PTSD and a mental block against Gangplank. May the 'YAR HAR 20% CRIT CHANCE 400DMG 1ST ITEM IN 5MIN GOLDSHITTING' -Pirate die properly next time. :) Anything else is boring or playable for me.
I fucking hate kled and illaoi, doesn’t matter who I’m playing. Oh what? You have a tower? Too bad I can just dodge agro by taking dmg. Oh what? You almost killed me? Too bad I auto’d you 3 times and got 60% of my hp back And don’t even get me started with illaoi E
The completely insane interaction of doing a perfect taunt, him taking 3 turret shots, dismount, takes 2 more, mounts again with 1hp, kills you, takes more turret hits, dismount, lose aggro and walk away.
I ban illaoi almost every game I play, even if I’m not too sometimes. That champ counters me down to my very soul. And if I have one friend who always says “she’s not that good just dodge he e” like yeah thanks man I had no idea! Too bad her is has a stupidly wide hit box, along with the fact that I could dodge E 153638 times but if she hits it once the lane is over. Which leads me to basically surrender the lane anyway, with the added cherry on top that if my jungles even does try to gank SHE’LL JUST HEAL MORE and get an extra kill helping her snowball even further. Oh and I only learned last year that her ult tentacles don’t show the same as her regular ones meaning they’re almost impossible to see. Along with the fact that her healing stacks based off of multiple targets and her e and a short targeted dash she can spam on low CD I have hated her since release. She was the first champ I DECIDED not buy since I hated her before she even hit the rift. Also why is she Sea themed, if she was like an undead warrior or something and had like spectral hands coming out of the ground instead of tentacles I might hate her 5% less. Sorry for the rant but I could go on all day about why I hate illaoi. I appreciate you <3
Fiora is my perma ban. I can never figure out how to match her trading power with Grasp. Usually just sit under tower and wait for 6
Little tip here for flora. Her vital will always switch to the opposite side. Hug a wall with whatever side her vital is, and then get ready to switch. If you manage to taunt her as she dodges for a vital, you can trade well with pull thru and w, get grasp proc and retreat. Ignite is key to stop her healing
Hello fellow Fiora perma Ban enjoyer ^ ^ Fully get the Sentiment, I get that the matchups decently playable for Shen if you play smart. But Fiora is sooo irritating and even If I have to Play the occasional Darius matchup now my life is definitely better without her.
If the vital is on a bad spot for you .you can go out of her vision (brush doesnt count) and the vital will reset
When i see her i take ww ignite barrier She always rage quit after 3 tower dives XD
I used to find illaoi unplayable but I have been going bamis > tiamat and contesting waveclear as much as possible and I've had a couple of games going even or winning. I find Illaoi wins once your under tower with no minions and she is free to hit e's. My current van is Darius
hi 1.4 mill aatrox otp here, shen has kill pressure over aartox lvl 1-3, aatrox spikes at lvl 4 so be careful, make sure to bring ignite, for building vs aatrox just make sure you component buy bambis and bramble, your first item can be anything really, anathemas and frost fire preform the best into him, heart steal is best case senerio for aatrox out of shens most common first items for trading if you ever see aatrox use q on wave all in him his q cool down is 14 seconds early game starting at the last q he casts, you lose every extended trade if aatrox doesnt int his combos, so under the assumption your fighting a human you primarily want to trade with enhanced q + grasp + shield bash if you are feeling spicy you can go phase rush as primary rune, e in auto twice and RUNN and repeat, bambis also helps with procing phase rush as well
You are a hero. Thanks for all the info. Aatrox is my perma ban, but maybe I will try again. As with all champions, a skilled aatrox will never Q waves unnecessarily, he knows that shen has 0 waveclear and he will patiently try to deny cs while building up the wave. Once the wave crash he will just spam e q and destroy you wave after wave after wave. There have been matches where I have managed to kill him once before 6 and then maybe a couple of times with good taunts under turret plus ignite but if you play against a skilled one, he will just wait and deny you everything. If you ult away once your turret is dead along with your last hopes of getting some cs. It's just champion design imo, shen cannot deal with champions who can push and harass you safely. He doesn't have good sustain in comparison, so with every wave you lose more. As for itemization, you cannot build HS as shen and also buy bamis and bramble. You will never get the money for it. It's either bramble/bamis into radiant or HS if you are very much ahead. I would never build HD against aatrox btw because it can never guarantee that you can win a 1v1 against him. You probably lose an all in even when 3 kills ahead. Sadly, in this matchup its up to the jungler to help you while Aatrox harass you under turret, and help you unfreezy waves when needed. If he never helps, you'll see your name spam pinged after 13-14 minutes, when Aatrox 1v3s with 70cs ahead.
Mordekaiser personally is unplayable, I main Aatrox so I know exactly how to beat him(be super agressive and either dodge his entire q1 or go into him early since you can do massive damage if he doesn't disengage, then first back bramble and rince and repeat, try to bait out his ult and after that you are free). Illaoi is very annoying matchup, not hard but requires a lot of focus which tends to make my head hurt.
Morde, Darius, Illaoi, urgot
Personally Morde and Darius aren't unplayable, just really hard , probably cos I play those two champs. But yeah one mistake and you get deleted, you have to play perfectly.
My absolute least favourite Shen matchups are Yorick (I play him though so at least I can pick him first), Darius (1 ability hit is lane lost), Morde (self-explanatory), Olaf (axes hard to dodge, all in is strong), and Jax (yes this is an ENORMOUS skill issue but I just can’t win into him).
Jax is pretty winnable unless he has lethal tempo and ignite. But like darius don't extend too much or he'll have time to run you down.
I myself don't have unplayable matchups. But the ones i have biggest problems with are Mordekaiser/teemo/illaoi/fiora/sett (Sett is here due to his high sustain on lane plus how much DMG he can output with BOTRK even after blocking his aa's ) But my easiest ones are Darius/Olaf/jax/Nasus
NEEKO
This is the right answer. Everything about her kit is made to counter Shen. I don’t ban her bc I never see her top but if I see it it’s an instant dodge.
I ban illaoi but got rekt by olaf and warwick. If the wavestate somehow is bad, they can freeze forever zone you from xp and you cant rly break the freeze without your jungler
True, but if they freeze and your jungler cannot understand wave management, you perma roam until you force them to push. As for WW its super simple. First you BEG your jungler to NEVER gank you. We all know how that goes against a barrier WW. Then, just ignore him and hit your minions. Stay under turret and its 100% that he will either mess up and die from a stupid dive, or hunt for someone away from top in which case you can either push and take plates, or freeze and deny him xp. (Depending on the situation). It's hard for WW to freeze because he needs to AA. But yeah, I also have the freezing problem against other offensive champs.
Rumble so far has been my worst matchup
Morde, Mundo, Illaoi, Darius, sometimes Sett I ban one of em and then without fail someone picks one of those other fuckers
GP he pushes too hard and outscales you too much
He outscales you that's true but honestly against most GPs you can destroy them early on. E through him and insta hit his barrel. He has to Q your taunt so he can't contest. Then hit him with the 2 remaining empowered Qs while also using W. Do this over and over and also take ignite. Its a medium difficulty lane until he gets his second item and by then you can have a huge lead. I even rush HS against him.
Most gp will just keep the distance or wont Fight at all
And good gps can even q the barrel while you‘re still in your dash and they‘re not taunted yet
I don’t think any match is unplayable you will always be useful when your ult is up and just play around your team. Even if you are forced under tower. I have the most trouble with jayce.
Just Darius
I've had trouble with dumb yordles Kled, Heimerdinger, and Teemo. I have to play under tower and cry because I'm bad and if I ult botlane I lose tower. I'm still too low level to run into true terrors like GP, fiora or Gwen with hands.
IMO AATROX AND DARIUS are FAIRLY EASY MATCHUP just camp the tower and let your jg gank you do not ever in any circumstance try to contest a 1v1 against them though Gangplank is unplayable for me and also my permaban
Irelia. It’s literally just not fun. It’s miserable. Champ gets a billion health and deals 400 damage per auto. It’s actual cancer dude.
Irelia is a pretty nice matchup for shen to my experience. Unless you are playing in challenger against crazy irelias, you just position the blade near minions and wait for her to q in. They always do. Then you enhanced q and use your W. Once q shield and w are out, taunt back through her, ir finish her. Honestly I feel uktra comfortable against her.
It just feels like she does 2x as much damage as any other bruiser while taking 1/2 the damage. And by the time you get a bramble vest it doesn’t even matter because her lifesteal just cancels it out and it’s on an even playing field when you should have a slight advantage lol. It just always feels like they get away with stupid shit that they wouldn’t on any other champ.
GP, Lilia, Kled and Mordekaiser
Its been a while since I played him top, but i remember mundo being super annoying. He does %hp dmg and u can never e him
How do you guys deal with Olaf? I just had a game where I was 7/1/7 on shen but lower cs since I’d been roaming a ton and at no point could I ever 1v1 Olaf. I had bramble, ignite, Heartsteel & titanic and he had stride breaker rav hydra. I just got so frustrated since it felt like I was just playing a weaker champ since even behind so many kills his presence is more powerful and he can 1v1 everyone. I know ppl don’t like Heartsteel in Shen but it was objectively the best mythic I could go since I was more ahead than all other lanes.
First of all, without a turret nearby you can never win an all in 1v1 against him. But during laning phase, you always win short trades cause of your W. Olaf relies on his attack speed. When he goes in , you instantly q (drag through him) for the shield. Once shield is out, use W. Once W ends, taunt back towards your turret. Never use E aggressively unless its a guaranteed kill with your jungler before Olaf's 6, or you know he doesn't have ult up. The moment you lose your turret just fall back to the second one. If you fight him in other terrain, you simply cannot win. But you will survive laningh phase and then peel for your team/help them. As witb all these tough matchups, the point is to not feed him. As far as itemization goes, never go HS against these counter matchups. Even with HS and hydra you lose hard, no point in going for these builds here. Just go for the standard bamis/bramble/radiant and help your team. HS is only used effectively against easier matchups with no kill potential on you.
one of the worst for me is Renekton. Partly is that i dont know when to strike and i see him very rarely so got 0 practise
A tip that works wonders for me is to always dtay near your blade. His combos are pretty quick but if you are always within reach of your W, the moment he e's in, you press W and you block his W aa. You can then q to get shield(try to drag through) and once he is out you can follow up with your e. At this point he cant do anything. Also use ignite against him.
and renekton players are pretty aggressive + know their health gain from ult/level up well. so assume he will try to dive you, and bait him while you have passive, w or flash up
His spin is like darius, it heals him. His combo has built in anti shield (which will surprise you when you think you have ki barrier) His dash can be cast twice if it hits anything (just assume he will dash twice) When he has a red bar, he will use it to heal or to combo you (both deals massive dmg) When you are low , assume and imagine that he will flash in stun combo. Usually when you are around 200-350 hp, pre 6. His ult deals aura damage like morde, so just don't fight it. He gains rage for his q that enables him to heal and stun. Rushing plated , Bramble and/or Warden's after bami and refillable would be a good survival option. Hide behind minions and poke grasp chops (never e-q without jungler or until you are confident)
I would say at least from a support stand point that maokai is unplayable. His punch takes you out of your taunt. Milio too, but most ones I have plYed against don’t save their Q for my taunt. So, that would be the window like playing against most CC. Maokai is just special in a way. Lulu is another where you don’t do much in lane itself and try to play elsewhere. What’s everyone else’s opinion?
In toplane: Olaf and Illaoi. I actually tend to be okay vs Aatrox and it’s always puzzled me why he’s considered such a hard counter to shen. In midlane (and I guess top): Pantheon. Nothing I do seems to work against him, no matter how much of his combo I dodge or block he always seems to outrade me.
I feel Aatrox is one of those matchups where you have to use way more brainpower to win than others. You have to constantly be moving and dodging the Q. It’s not an unplayable matchup but it’s hard as shit to micromanage everything. A lot of people here are saying Nasus but I’d consider that lane completely free assuming you have any wave management skills. Those two matchups have the same kinda thing where you have to be intentional about absolutely everything. No autopilot.
Olaf is definitely the hardest counter. I got rent by tone the other day and died lvl 1 but that may have been a lack of champion knowledge for me
Lol you’re playing/building wrong with Klee and urgot on that list
Any champ with strong sustain is pretty much unwinnable
For me the most unplayable are Sett and Mordekaiser. I just can't against these two
Nasus. Winnable very early if you aggress + ignite. Lost after he gets sheen. Can't do quick in-and-out trades because he'll W and slowly run you down while healing off the attacks. Quickly becomes hopeless after level 6 where he gets free AOE, lower cooldown on Q, free armor and MR and free HP while you get... the ability to leave lane to stop the adc inting while he takes your plates, heals to full and gets 15 stacks.
I’d consider Nasus a pretty free lane bc you outclass him heavily levels 1-5. He’s super easy to freeze against and deny xp. If you see him Q a minion early levels it’s a free taunt into 3 empowered Q autos —> insta win the trade. Be mindful though that the minions will aggro you and that can break the freeze.
Gangplank. All the way. Ghost barrels. Ghost barrels everywhere. What u gonna do? Taunt on his face? Nope, not in a million years. My only hope when against gangplank is my team doing its job properly and then come and help them